WEBVTT 00:00:04.505 --> 00:00:10.844 First up, my spirit name is Mnido Giizis Ogichidaa: A Moon Spirit Guardian. 00:00:10.844 --> 00:00:15.883 And one of my fasts, I was given a message 00:00:15.883 --> 00:00:20.521 that there's too many of our women's hearts on the ground. 00:00:20.521 --> 00:00:25.325 and the death of a nation is when our women's hearts are on the ground. 00:00:25.325 --> 00:00:30.430 And that shortly after that fast, I ended up speaking in the parliament of Canada, 00:00:30.430 --> 00:00:33.367 debating the laws on sex work. 00:00:33.367 --> 00:00:37.838 And I was in a room filled with politicians and lawyers 00:00:37.838 --> 00:00:41.152 and everybody with fancy pieces of paper, 00:00:41.152 --> 00:00:43.410 and I was there with my eagle feather. 00:00:43.410 --> 00:00:44.978 And I was talking about 00:00:44.978 --> 00:00:47.548 how 500 women to us, 00:00:47.548 --> 00:00:53.251 is equivalent to 25,000 women in any other community. 00:00:53.251 --> 00:00:56.601 If another community lost 25,000 women, 00:00:56.601 --> 00:00:59.693 I'm sure people would be up in arms. 00:00:59.693 --> 00:01:00.952 They would be organizing. 00:01:00.952 --> 00:01:05.499 They would not sit down and live in silence. 00:01:05.499 --> 00:01:10.037 Um, at Maggie's, our project is the first of its kind in our country. 00:01:10.037 --> 00:01:13.806 And this is years after the Stolen Sisters report. 00:01:13.807 --> 00:01:17.717 I want to acknowledge that 60% of the women found on the pig farm 00:01:17.717 --> 00:01:19.880 were First Nations women. 00:01:19.880 --> 00:01:25.385 That their families had to lobby the police to investigate their crimes. 00:01:25.385 --> 00:01:26.954 Sex workers are mothers, 00:01:26.954 --> 00:01:27.788 they're fathers, 00:01:27.788 --> 00:01:29.189 they're brothers and sisters, 00:01:29.189 --> 00:01:30.256 they're Two Spirit, 00:01:30.779 --> 00:01:32.593 they have other things, 00:01:32.593 --> 00:01:34.561 other than being a sex worker. 00:01:34.561 --> 00:01:37.733 Sex work is their job. 00:01:37.733 --> 00:01:40.334 It's not OK to kill a sex worker. 00:01:40.334 --> 00:01:43.537 It's not OK to kill an Aboriginal woman 00:01:43.537 --> 00:01:46.340 or Two spirited person. 00:01:46.340 --> 00:01:49.209 Um, this is a drum we made at Maggie's, 00:01:49.209 --> 00:01:51.411 it's the first time we did drum-making at Maggie's. 00:01:51.411 --> 00:01:52.980 What we're trying to do with the project 00:01:52.980 --> 00:01:55.798 is we're trying to open the circle 00:01:55.798 --> 00:01:58.385 so that we can include people in our community 00:01:58.385 --> 00:02:00.721 that don't feel part of our community; 00:02:00.721 --> 00:02:05.365 so that we can take them out of isolation and include them in our circle. 00:02:05.365 --> 00:02:08.328 So we're doing that by including them in the sex work community, 00:02:08.328 --> 00:02:10.964 but also reaching out to community organizations 00:02:10.964 --> 00:02:14.801 so that they can participate in community organizing, 00:02:14.801 --> 00:02:20.507 and be OK with saying "Hi, I'm a sex worker". 00:02:20.507 --> 00:02:23.276 Um, shame lives in silence. 00:02:23.276 --> 00:02:25.045 That's been my experience. 00:02:25.045 --> 00:02:26.727 If you wanna get rid of shame, 00:02:26.727 --> 00:02:28.348 we have to start talking. 00:02:28.348 --> 00:02:29.549 You know? 00:02:29.549 --> 00:02:32.819 And it's, this is the remnants possibly of colonialism, 00:02:32.819 --> 00:02:34.187 where we don't talk about sex, 00:02:34.187 --> 00:02:36.201 let alone sex for money. 00:02:36.201 --> 00:02:41.228 So I'm gonna end my speak by acknowledging the spirits that have gone on, 00:02:41.228 --> 00:02:44.882 our mothers, the mothers, the daughters, the aunties. 00:02:44.882 --> 00:02:48.068 That it wasn't because they were a sex worker 00:02:48.068 --> 00:02:50.037 that they deserved to die. 00:02:50.037 --> 00:02:52.272 They did not deserve to die. 00:02:52.272 --> 00:02:53.707 They needed to be honoured, 00:02:53.707 --> 00:02:54.841 they needed to be cherished, 00:02:54.841 --> 00:02:57.377 they needed to be included in the circle. 00:02:57.377 --> 00:02:59.560 So I'm going to sing a song, 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:01.615 the Seven Grandfather Teaching Song 00:03:01.615 --> 00:03:06.653 on the drum that was made in our sex worker organization, 00:03:06.653 --> 00:03:08.689 for the people who couldn't come here today 00:03:08.689 --> 00:03:12.826 and speak to you about their stories and say "hi, I'm a sex worker". 00:03:12.826 --> 00:03:16.563 And I'm hoping that it can, we can meet people where they are 00:03:16.563 --> 00:03:22.569 instead of waiting til they're healed enough to be in a sweatlodge, or community circles, 00:03:22.569 --> 00:03:26.525 and then maybe we won't have so many vigils. 00:03:28.809 --> 00:03:33.512 [Song begins] 00:03:56.103 --> 00:04:00.953 [others join singing] 00:05:21.655 --> 00:05:24.969 [song ends with cheers] 00:05:28.662 --> 00:05:31.233 Oh, thank you so much for that gift, Maurganne, that was beautiful.